Defra are consulting on simplifying practically all protected species and habitat protection guidance (note GUIDANCE, not legislation) and most if not all of the guidance that land managers, ecologists and volunteers use on a day to day basis will fall under this.

 

All NE and EA guidance with respect to this will eventually be housed on the gov.uk website rather than with the agencies' own websites. It's likely that the amount of guidance available will be reduced significantly. People's viewpoints will vary as some would prefer drastically simplified guidance whereas others may like the technical detail that is contained in the existing guidance.

 

Some examples of the what the guidance will look like are available for comment so please do. If there is a piece of guidance that you use all the time and find valuable, now is the time to say so!

 

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/betterregulation/defraguidanceconsultationfeature.aspx" rel="nofollow - http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/betterregulation/defraguidanceconsultationfeature.aspx

 

Regards

 

Duncan